Could this be oversupply?

Hi!

I've been reading your threads on oversupply and I'm not sure if that's what my issue is - I'd greatly appreciate some advice.
My baby has been latching, sucking a minute or so and then unlatching, basically since the beginning. Sometimes she does manage to stay on a 10 min stretch so I put it up to us learning how to breastfeed, as she is only a week and a half old.
For the last two days, starting from her 8pm feed she has been getting increasingly frustrated and almost "attacking the breast", then unlatching and crying. We ended up expressing milk and bottle feeding her because she was so stressed out.
I never suspected oversupply because my breasts dont get engorged and I dont have milk spraying out when she unlatches but I have noticed that her mouth is usually full when she lets go and during feeding she has milk dribbling down her face.
I expressed some milk to check how much she was getting and was surprised to find that I collected 100ml in under 5 min!
She does have some gas issues, explosive, runny poos and sometimes gets hungry again in under an hour.
Could this be an oversupply, foremilk/hindmilk problem?

Re: Could this be oversupply?

It could be forceful or “overactive” letdown, (oald) which is not quite the same thing as oversupply. They often happen together but not always. This early it can be counterproductive to assume oversupply, as the remedies for oversupply are to lessen supply, and its too early to be messing with your milk supply (by block feeeding) imo.

For oald, quick fixes to help baby nurse more happily are to nurse in a laid back position, aka an "uphill" position, so gravity slows the flow. Another idea is to take baby off as letdown in happening, let that first rush go into a cloth, then relatch baby when things calm down a bit.

Baby wanting to nurse more than once an hour is entirely normal in the newborn period.

If you are scheduling feedings, I suggest you instead cue feed and feed frequently throughout the day-a MINIMUM of 12 times in 24 hours. Nursing frequently is an excellent help for forceful letdown and just about any other nursing issue that arises.

I would suggest you resist the urge to express and give bottles unless solid evidence (not enough poops, poor weight gain) suggest baby is unable to get enough at the breast.

Re: Could this be oversupply?

Thanks a lot for your answer! It's a relief that feeding so often in a newborn is normal. I'll try the uphill feeding.

We are on something like a schedule. She is a very sleepy baby and at the hospital they told us to make sure she is eating every 3h during the day and every 4 at night - If she doesn't wake up on her own to feed, to wake her up. So that's what I've been doing - I check what time she feeds and set my alarm clock for 3h later for the next one. If she hasn't woken up on her own by 3.5h I wake her up. She is starting to wake up on her own and show hunger cues more often now, but it's not every time.
Should I not be waking her up?
I'm a first time mom, so I stress about everything: if she sleeps to long that she'll get dehydrated, if she feeds every hour that she isn't getting enough sleep, that she is getting too much foremilk and poops too much, if she doesn't poop after a feed that she didn't get enough to eat.... phew it's exhausting!

Re: Could this be oversupply?

We are on something like a schedule. She is a very sleepy baby and at the hospital they told us to make sure she is eating every 3h during the day and every 4 at night - If she doesn't wake up on her own to feed, to wake her up. So that's what I've been doing - I check what time she feeds and set my alarm clock for 3h later for the next one. If she hasn't woken up on her own by 3.5h I wake her up. She is starting to wake up on her own and show hunger cues more often now, but it's not every time

OK, sorry this is the confusing thing-

If baby is not nursing frequently enough on it's own, you absolutely DO need to wake baby to nurse. OR, you can try laid back positioning and offering the breast while baby is asleep and seeing is baby will latch-babies can and do nurse in their sleep. Feeding on cue means nurse baby as frequently as baby cues, as long as baby is cueing often enough.

How old is baby? Up until 2 weeks it is pretty common for baby to need to be awakened to nurse, but after that less so-and usually it is recommended in the early weeks to wake baby every 2 hours, with one longer break (up to 4 hours) once a day...

But sometimes it can happen that we get into a pattern of waking baby frequently and baby is never is able to get onto its own natural rhythm. So this is all very individual.

I'm a first time mom, so I stress about everything: if she sleeps to long that she'll get dehydrated, if she feeds every hour that she isn't getting enough sleep, that she is getting too much foremilk and poops too much, if she doesn't poop after a feed that she didn't get enough to eat.... phew it's exhausting!

Only the first one is a serious concern, and baby would have to sleep a really long time for a one time sleep stretch to cause dehydration. Feeding every hour-normal. Too much poop-no such thing. Too little poop-3 a day means all is OK. (up until about 6 weeks when this can change.)

"Too much" foremilk is only an issue of it is an issue. kwim? All milk is good. And feeding very frequently remedies this just fine.

Re: Could this be oversupply?

w/ LLLMeg. The advice most moms are given is to feed on demand, but it should be "Feed on demand, or at least every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3-4 at night". Sometimes sleepy babies need mom to take charge and offer the breast more often than baby seems to want. But it's usually a very temporary situation!

Oversupply and excessive foremilk intake really are not the worst problems to have. Oversupply usually means baby gets her meals, and then some, and the problem usually fixes itself with time. Excessive foremilk intake isn't a huge deal, either- it may cause gas and green poops, but as long as the baby isn't too uncomfortable it's not such a big deal and it also usually self-corrects as supply adjusts.